MDC-T to redistribute land

The Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T said it would redistribute land equally should it win the right to lead government after the July 30 polls.

Party spokesperson Linda Masarira said the party's position on the land issue was that there was need to address the historical imbalances on land ownership and distribution.

"The party will ensure that land is redistributed equally and equitably and will ensure that all people are capacitated to use land profitably. The party's position is to also ensure that all the farmers will have security of tenure so as to enable them to access loans since commercial farming is capital intensive, thereby it needs a lot of money which most farmers cannot raise without the assistance of financial institutions," she said.

Masarira said MDC-T was a social democratic party which believed in equality of opportunity.

"The MDC-T wants to ensure that the masses move from just subsistence to commercial farming so as to enhance sustainable human development and to ensure food security," she said.

"This will not only benefit the farmers, but will stimulate an agro-based industrial revolution."

Former President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF administration in 2000 started what critics branded the chaotic land reform exercise which saw several white commercial farmers losing their farms and thousands of workers losing their jobs. The programme has been blamed for giving rise to multiple farm ownership by top ruling party and government officials amid calls for a land audit.